Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Migros is adding, in coming weeks, a new product line that features high quality at a low cost, called M-Classic, says the company. The new lineup, with some 600 new products by the end of the year, will be easily identifiable by its packaging.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s foreign trade, both exports and imports, in February continued the slump that began in December 2008. The trade balance fell to half the figure of a year ago, down to a positive balance of CHF731 million.
All industries were hit by the slump, with imports and exports down by double-digit numbers: 17.3 percent and 13.7 percent respectively. Even the watch industry, which has withstood slumps seen earlier in other industries, was hit hard by a 22.4 percent fall in exports.
Gloomy forecast
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The forecast for economic growth in Switzerland has been revised downward, to -2.2 percent in 2009 by the federal government’s group of experts who meet regularly to assess the economy. Based on the assumption that world financial markets will begin to stabilize, economic growth should be back in the black by 2010, to 1.1 percent growth, according to the group.
Ikea soon in Geneva?
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – A long battle for Swedish home store Ikea to set up shop in Geneva’s Vernier district is drawing to a close, with the store and the local government signing papers 17 March that will allow Ikea to start building. The deciding factor was reportedly Ikea’s agreement to allot 200 of the 400 jobs created to unemployed people in the Vernier district, according to the Tribune.
Zurich, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Ernesto Bertarelli, former owner of Serano and owner of Alinghi, the boat that won the last America’s Cup, is withdrawing from the UBS board, along with Geneva lawyer Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler and Joerg Woll. The bank will re-elect its board at an April 15 meeting.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - PublicGroupe, based in Vaud and parent to the advertising company Publicitas, has posted a loss for 2008 of CHF42.1 million despite positive opreating results, a sharp turn-around from its 2007 profit of CHF73.1 million. The overall loss is explained largely by two significant losses: goodwill writeoffs of CHF33.8m, the bulk of which were in the media sales division, and financial market losses of CHF44.7m on its 19.9% share in media publisher Edipresse and 1.4% share in Tamedia. Edipresse has had an exclusive advertising sales agreement with Publicitas which ends in December 2009. Edipresse is being bought out by Tamedia.
Existing building, Blandonnet, 2009: HSBC will move into new building
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – HSBC will regroup its 12 Geneva offices in 2010, reports the Tribune, moving them to the relatively new Blandonnet International Business Centrer where a third building is nearing completion.
The company’s move will bring the number of people working in the centre to 4,500.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss National Bank 12 March announced that it is taking steps to lower the Swiss franc against the euro: it is investing in Swiss franc bonds issued by private borrowers, narrowing the range of the benchmark Libor interest rate to 0-0.75% with immediate effect in order to bring interest rates lower, and it is buyng foreign currency on foreign exchange markets. The Financial Times Friday morning leads with the currency exchange move news, citing several analysts who say Switzerland could be setting off a currency war.
Updated 20:00 Vaduz, Liechtenstein (GenevaLunch) – The Principality of Liechtenstein as well as Andorra reportedly have agreed to follow OECD standards for banking transparency with one exception: like Switzerland, they will retain banking secrecy. Thursday evening 12 March mixed reports were appearing in the media about what exactly this meant, with Reuters reporting from Zurich that Liechtenstein is going further than Switzerland in relaxing bank secrecy regulations, and few details about Andorra that could be confirmed.
Roche's headquarters in Basel
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roche and Genentech have reached a friendly agreement for the Basel-based pharmaceutical giant to pay $46.8 billion for the 44% of the US company it does not own. The expiration date for the new $95 a share offer is 25 March 2009.
Walter Kielholz
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The musical chairs of large Swiss companies, banks in particular, continues Monday with Walter Kielholz, chairman of Credit Suisse, the country’s second largest bank, retiring from the post in order to devote himself to his job as the next chairman of Swiss Re, where he is currently vice-chairman.
Lausanne, Switzerland (romandie/ats and 24 Heures, Fre) – The downturn in the Swiss mass media market continues, with the announcement, 23 February, of January figures for ad sales, on which media depend for the bulk of their revenues: down 8.7% compared to January 2007, to CHF249.5 million. Edipresse, the Lake Geneva region’s largest media publisher, announced it will lay off 25 staff, representing 16.5 fulltime equivalent jobs, at its Bussigny printing operation, at least in part because of fewer advertising inserts.
Lord Saatchi, in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two questions on everyone’s lips at a press conference in Geneva with Maurice Saatchi 17 February were why open an ad agency now, and why in Geneva, given the morose advertising market and the unhappy state of affairs of the banking industry. Saatchi has been one of the advertising world’s best-known names for the past 30 or more years. He was in Geneva to help open his group’s newest agency, and his visit signaled what could be the start of a new approach to advertising in the area, with “simplicity” as the key word.
Nestle profits up
Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Nestlé has announced net profits of CHF18 billion, a 69.4% increase over 2007. Consoliated sales for the year were CHF 110b, of which CHF102b were in the food and beverage arm of the business. The company says its very strong growth has allowed it to continue its three-year CHF25 billion share buyback programme.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss trade balance in January was positive, CHF2 billion, but it continued its “downward spiral,” the federal government in Bern announced Thursday 19 February. Trade with the European Union in particular suffered, with flat trade, both imports and exports.
Bern, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) – The USS, Swiss unions association, is warning that the country will have 10,000 more young people on the unemployment books by 2010, noting that half of the country’s young who do not yet have jobs are not even registered.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The nearly CHF1 billion loss in 2008 that Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies, announced earlier is being confirmed today, 19 February, with the company’s new CEO Stefan Lippe presenting the final, audited results: CHF884 million in the red, with CHF170m of the loss coming in the fourth quarter alone.
Updated 16:55 Zurich and Bern, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Le Temps Wednesday afternoon 18 February reports the potentially explosive news, not confirmed officially, that UBS, which has been under investigation by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service: tax authority) in the US, will turn over the names of 250 clients to the American Justice Department. Le Temps credits several sources, which it does not name. It notes that UBS, which has resisted pressure over providing names until now, “in the process, weakens the Swiss financial centre.”
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Preliminary figures from the Swiss Statistical Office show that retail sales remained strong throughout 2008, up 4.3% compared to 2007, and 2.9% when adjusted for the number of open days and inflation. December had an increase of 4.5% compared to 2007, which was -0.5% when adjusted for the number of open days and inflation.
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – DuPont is having a birthday party in Geneva today, 18 February, to celebrate its 50 years in Geneva. Le Temps runs a lengthy story on the company’s diversification from petroleum-based products to agriculture and sustainable development. It also looks at the growing role played by women at the company, which has been aggressive in its efforts to get better gender balance in its workforce.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva-based Givaudin, the world’s leader in scents and flavours, had a 6.07% increase in sales in local currencies in 2008, to CHF4.09 million, representing a fall of 1.1% in Swiss francs. Net income was up 19.4% from CHF93 million in 2007 to CHF111m in 2008. The group says it is relatively optimistic for 2009 despite the overall market downturn.
In other Swiss business news, Basel-based chemical company Clariant has posted a 2008 loss of CHF37 million, hurt by a sharp drop in the textiles and leather business, notably in the auto industry.
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The price of goods in Switzerland, both imported and Swiss-produced, fell in January 2009 by 0.8% compared to December 2008, and at an annual rate prices fell for the first time since 2004, by 0.9%. The lower prices of petrol and metal products were key factors in the fall.
Gland, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swissquote, Switzerland’s leader in online stock market trading, saw its 2008 results hit hard by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers but its revenues for the year were up slightly over 2007, to CHF111.7 million, thanks to strong growth in its client base,
Jim Pulcrano, IMD
The great divide between the corporate and NGO worlds (non-governmental organizations) closed a bit 3 February when Lausanne’s business school, IMD, pulled together executives from the two groups, whose paths don’t often cross. They met for a three-day summit on responsible leadership where they were told by John R Wells, IMD’s new president, “Now is the time to re-double our efforts and put responsible leadership to the front and centre.”
John Well’s speech on responsible leadership
IMD has moved it to the centre of its agenda for executive training, but not just in response to the current economic crisis, Jim Pulcrano, executive director at IMD says. The school is determined “to have a real and positive impact on society through rewarding relationships.”
Photo, IMD on flickr: Responsible leadership summit
The summit was a great success, Pulcrano last week told a group from the American International Club of Geneva. “The mix of people was pretty good – and there was a lot of mixing.”
After the Lausanne summit IMD will set up a series of summits in Asia, the Gulf and the Americas, a move designed to ensure that it listens to stakeholders in different parts of the world.
The summit series is linked to IMD’s continuing growth from a Euro-centric to an international business school, Pulcrano says, a change that gathered speed perhaps 10 years ago and that has been made easier, somewhat ironically, because the school is unfettered by having other campuses or a main sponsor. No one company dominates the student body, with 3% the maximum. “We’re independent. We get no subsidiaries from the government.” Despite its relatively small size, with 56 fulltime professors, IMD was named number one in the world by the Economist for its MBA rankings.
Business schools mean MBA programmes to many minds, Pulcrano notes, but at IMD the MBAs are only 5% of the student population. The rest is a mix of executive education programmes, 40% open enrollment, 40% programmes tailored for partner companies and 15% what IMD calls its corporate learning network. The companies it works with are located around the world.
The school is well placed, therefore, Pulcrano notes, to work with the world’s top executives to focus more on developing responsible leadership.
At the summit, Wells, who stepped into his job 1 April 2008, upon Peter Lorange’s retirement, expanded on the phrase. “Getting results the right way means treating people and institutions fairly, taking the long view. Remember that business is a multi-round game. Fairness builds trust and loyalty which is key to good business. It means being honest: don’t steal from your firm’s long term assets to create the impression of short term profits that are not there.
“It means taking a broader view of the impact of a firm’s choices on local communities, society and the environment. And it means looking for investment opportunities to help solve critical issues such as the poor-rich divide, bringing the power of enlightened self-interest to bear on some of the world’s toughest problems.”
Patsy Allen, president of ESCA, talks to AICG members about the cancer association's work
Ed. note: Jim Pulcrano addressed the American International Club of Geneva 6 February. At the lunch where he spoke AICG’s president, John Silver, announced that the club’s 2009 charity recipient is the English Speaking Cancer Association.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Bobst, the world’s largest supplier to packaging companies, based in Lausanne, says 2008 turnover was down 6.4%, or CHF111 million, from its record year of 2007.
Swiss debt, GDP
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss federal government has posted a CHF3.6 billion deficit for 2008 despite a budget surplus of CHF7.3b before extraordinary expenses of CHF11b.
Cisco Rolle: showing guests the quality of large-screen networking
San Jose, California, USA (Bloomberg) – Cisco is selling $4 billion of debt, only the second sale of its bonds in 25 years, as part of measures to cut costs in the face of falling sales worldwide of networking equipment.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Ciba Tuesday 10 February reported a loss of CHF564 million for 2008, compared to profits of CHF268 in 2007. Sales were down 9% for the year, reflecting a sharp drop in sales in the last quarter of the year, mainly in coatings and plastics for the automotive industry, the chemical company noted.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has announced a fourth quarter loss of CHF8 billion, higher than most analysts’ forecasts, bringing the bank’s loss for 2008 to CHF19.7b, due primarily to losses on risk positions in investment banking.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UBS will get $35 billion in help from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) through the stabilization fund (SNB StabFund) established in October 2008 rather than the $60 b figure given at the time. The SNB refers to greater financial stability in its Tuesday 10 February press release, “Developments since then have shown that, from a financial stability perspective, certain financial instruments will not need to be transferred to the fund.” The total amount in the StabFund will be $39.1 b, with UBS responsible for the cost of transferring 10% of the assets into the fund.
